Defending champion Koneru Humpy had a bittersweet ending to her campaign in the women’s section at the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Rapid Championship. India’s No. 1 female chess player resulted in a tie breaker with China’s Zhu Jiner and Russian Grandmaster Aleksandra Goryachkina on 8.5 points in the 11th and final round.
According to the International Chess Federation (FIDE) rules, in case a tie-breaker happens for the first position, then only the top two players will advance to a playoff for two blitz games. The rules rank players by Buchholz Cut 1, Buchholz and Average Rapid Rating of the Opponents. Humpy ended with scores of 69, 74 and 2335, while Zhu (72.5, 77.5 and 2410) and Goryachkina (71.5, 77 and 2360) finished above that advanced them to the playoffs, where they played for the title.
In the showdown, 2023 Women’s Chess World Cup winner Goryachkina of Russia defeated China’s Zhu by a score of 1.5/0.5 in the playoffs. The victory got Goryachkina her maiden world rapid title along with a cash prize of 40,000 Euro. Indian chess stalwarts fell behind Zhu, and Goryachkina had to settle for the third spot, finishing off with a bronze medal. Humpy was, however, close to winning her third world rapid championship title.
Former World Rapid bronze medallist B. Savitha Shri finished in fourth position with 8 points, followed by R. Vaishali in no. 5 with eight points only. Divya Deshmukh, the Women’s World Cup winner with 7.5 points, ended in eighth spot, while D. Harika finished in no. 19 with seven points.
In the men’s category, India’s No.1 Arjun Erigaisi bagged a bronze medal in the open section. With that, he became the second Indian male chess player to make a podium finish in the open section after Viswanathan Anand, who had won the title in 2017. Arjun’s victory was defined by luck for securing the third spot by just half a point margin in the tie-breaker. After the 12th round, he was in joint third at 8.5 points, but he defeated Russia’s Aleksandr Shimanov to end up in joint second with Artemiev, Niemann, and Leinier Dominguez Perez at 9.5 points.
But the highlight of the event was world No.1 Magnus Carlsen, who won his sixth World Rapid title in the open category. His previous victories came in the 2014, 2015, 2019, 2022 and 2023 editions. The Norwegian chess player won three consecutive games in the finals, finishing with a one-point lead, which then followed with a draw result in the 13th round with Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri on 10.5 points.
